http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/news/2016/06/want-remember-something-workout-4-hours-after-learning-help-retention?
It’s
known that good sleep is important for memory formation, but a new
study suggests that delayed exercise can also help boost retention of
newly learned memories.
The waiting game is key to the improvement, as hitting the gym immediately after learning doesn’t result in the same benefits, according to the findings published June 16 in Current Biology.
For the study researchers brought in 72 people of average fitness and taught them 90 picture-location associations, where they learned where certain objects had appeared on the screen. The participants were then split into three groups: one-third performed 35 minutes of interval training on an exercise bike immediately after learning, one-third waited four hours and then exercised, and the last group did not perform any exercise. The biking exercise was at an intensity of up to 80 percent of the participants’ maximum heart rate.
Two days later the participants returned and underwent brain MRI’s as they were tested on how much they remembered from the pictures. There was no difference in retention between the group that exercised immediately and those who abstained from working out. Interestingly, those that exercised four hours after learning remembered almost 10 percent more material than the other groups.
“Our results suggest that appropriately timed physical exercise can improve long-term memory and highlight the potential of exercise as an intervention in educational and clinical settings,” the researchers concluded.
However, what the exact optimal time for exercise after learning is not yet known. A longer or shorter delay may have better, or worse results.
The researchers also say that the cause of this effect on memory is not entirely clear yet, however they suggest that it may be the result of naturally occurring chemical compounds known as catecholamines, such as dopamine and norepinephrine. Animal studies previously suggested that catecholamines can improve memory consolidation and that exercise can boost these hormones.
“These proteins help stabilizing new memory traces, which would otherwise be lost,” Dr. Guillen Fernadez, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Radboud University Medical Center told The Huffington Post. “Physical exercise is at the start of this sequence, because it is accompanied by the release of dopamine and norepinephrine.”
Up next the researchers plan to set up a similar experiment to understand the molecular mechanism of exercise and its influence on learning and memory, and further investigate the ideal timing.
The waiting game is key to the improvement, as hitting the gym immediately after learning doesn’t result in the same benefits, according to the findings published June 16 in Current Biology.
For the study researchers brought in 72 people of average fitness and taught them 90 picture-location associations, where they learned where certain objects had appeared on the screen. The participants were then split into three groups: one-third performed 35 minutes of interval training on an exercise bike immediately after learning, one-third waited four hours and then exercised, and the last group did not perform any exercise. The biking exercise was at an intensity of up to 80 percent of the participants’ maximum heart rate.
Two days later the participants returned and underwent brain MRI’s as they were tested on how much they remembered from the pictures. There was no difference in retention between the group that exercised immediately and those who abstained from working out. Interestingly, those that exercised four hours after learning remembered almost 10 percent more material than the other groups.
“Our results suggest that appropriately timed physical exercise can improve long-term memory and highlight the potential of exercise as an intervention in educational and clinical settings,” the researchers concluded.
However, what the exact optimal time for exercise after learning is not yet known. A longer or shorter delay may have better, or worse results.
The researchers also say that the cause of this effect on memory is not entirely clear yet, however they suggest that it may be the result of naturally occurring chemical compounds known as catecholamines, such as dopamine and norepinephrine. Animal studies previously suggested that catecholamines can improve memory consolidation and that exercise can boost these hormones.
“These proteins help stabilizing new memory traces, which would otherwise be lost,” Dr. Guillen Fernadez, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Radboud University Medical Center told The Huffington Post. “Physical exercise is at the start of this sequence, because it is accompanied by the release of dopamine and norepinephrine.”
Up next the researchers plan to set up a similar experiment to understand the molecular mechanism of exercise and its influence on learning and memory, and further investigate the ideal timing.
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